Dr. Rich Post-Covid Week In Review
Week of June 8th - Office Safety

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Dr. Rich: Hi everyone, Dr. Rich. Rich Castellano, the smile doctor here at ImageLift, talking today about PAPRs and safety. Thank you Crystal, for being in our video. We're going to be demoing and demonstrating and modeling our PAPRs and how we use them every day in our office. So the purpose of this video is that I get the opportunity to talk with doctors and CEOs in the industry from all across the country. And the number one issue that people are talking about now at this point is safety. So we're going to talk about how we do our safety or the levels of PPE safety, so that you can feel confident about seeing your patients and confident about building your business and growing your business. So safety is always first: patient safety, staff, and team safety. So to start things out, this is a 3M Versaflo PAPR system.

It is a HEPA filter and it fits here on my belt. You can see on the back, it's got a hose. It blows air. I have air conditioning on my face all day long. I don't really don't really need the mask. The air blows and blows through here. And so protecting doctor, my mask protects you. That's how this works. Now, this is 3M Versaflo. This is Optrel Clearmaxx helmet, and there are some subtle differences. So they're a very similar unit. You can see on the back, she's got this unit here, it's on. There's three different fan speeds for each one of them, similar hose, and then, you can tighten on the top and then turnaround to the front. So this has no helmet on the top. So the difference between these two ... This one, I was actually able to find in stock.

There's a few of these in stock. There are a few suppliers. If you'd like to know, let me know. I can connect you with who I got them from. Optrel, you can find online. The helmet is definitely lighter. So just a comparison between these two PAPRs, the Clearmaxx face shield, this is 330 grams. That is 0.7 pounds. But this Versaflo M-200 helmet is 600 grams, almost double the weight, 1.4 pounds. Now there's an M-300 helmet that some of my team members are using. And the M-300 is 850 grams, 1.9 pounds. So we wear it all day long. It can add up, but I'm giving my team a choice of which PAPR they want to use. So there's a little bit of a difference in the weight. And these units here, the Clearmaxx, this is 1500 grams, which is 3.3 pounds. And the Versaflo PAPR is four pounds, 1783 grams.

Now, there's also a shoulder harness attachment and we've even just bought some book bags where if some of the staff wanted to wear them in a book bag, it can take the weight off of their hips and it's just easier to wear it on the shoulders, whatever they feel most comfortable with. So Crystal, how does it feel? Do you feel the air conditioning effect on your face?

Crystal: Yes, I do.

Dr. Rich: Okay. And you've worn the 3M PAPR as well.

Crystal: Right.

Dr. Rich: Do you feel much difference between the two or they feel pretty similar?

Crystal: Lighter. This one's light.

Dr. Rich: This one definitely feels lighter. But the air flow-

Crystal: The air flow.

Dr. Rich: You're getting enough air flow?

Crystal: Yes.

Dr. Rich: Now, try and fog up. Like if I try and ... Don't you love it when your mask and your shield and your glasses fog up? Don't we love that as healthcare providers, right? This is impossible to fog up. If you can fog it up a little, the air blows it away and it goes away. So thank you for being our model today. Big hand for Crystal. Thank you so much. So Crystal's training with us today. So we're going to send you off. She's going to be taking care of patients. Thank you, Crystal.

Crystal: Thank you.

Dr. Rich: So I'm going to talk more. I'm going to do the unboxing on the Clearmaxx. So two PAPRs that we use in our office, this and then of course, if the PAPRs don't feel comfortable for your team, then of course we have the face shields, N95 mask, and then the KN95 mask. We provided all of these for our staff. The main goal being that once your staff feel safe, once they're feeling comfortable ... And of course, we're checking temperatures, checking history, screening patients. But once they feel comfortable, they will be able to work and do what they need to do, reach out to patients, create the patient experience.

We bought these from DiaMedical USA. I'm going to give you the web, it's DiaMedical USA that ... I think they still have some in stock. Obviously, stock is changing but D-I-A medical usa.com is where we found our KN95 masks and plenty of face shields. So for the rest of this video, I want to talk a little more about the PAPRs and I'm just going to do a little unboxing. Let me get this in the video. So with this unit that comes straight out of the box, these are some of these adapters that you can use for ... If you're in a European country and you have different electrical requirements. We've got ours set up. This is the battery and it just charges on a standard wall outlet, plugging in through here. And then this slides onto the bottom of the device. So as I take out this device, here it comes. It's pretty tapped on a belt. There is also a ...

And I'm going to take this off here so I can do the rest of this because I'm in the room alone. There is a shoulder harness attachment for this as well. So that way, if it takes a little weight off the hips, that you're wearing it around the shoulders. So the device is pretty simple and you can see there's the fan power, you can adjust the fan speeds. The battery slides on the bottom. So from the side here, you line up the grooves and this battery has been charged. So all we have to do now ... Oh, that's the fan attachment. Hit the power. You've got the tube. You squeeze to open it up. So that's on there. And then now that the unit ... Oh, now it's beeping. The reason why it's beeping, I'm going to turn that off. So that's turning off. It's beeping because I didn't put the filter in.

So here's the filter and this is a HEPA filter. So it clears 0.3. They said it was up to 0.1 microns, but definitely is NIOSH approved. Let's see if I can break through this thing and break the filter out of here. I'm a surgeon, I need a cutting instrument. Okay. So we've opened up. This is the filter for the Clearmaxx Versaflo. So there's a little rubber gasket that goes around the edge that creates a seal. This is the back of the filter. This is the front. And then when you open the device, there's a little spark shield here. And I just tuck this into the unit, fits very snug. And then, that snaps in. So now, I'm going to turn it back on again and let's see if it gives us the beeping warning noise. So the indicator lights are going on. So now it's happy because it recognizes when there's a filter there. And it's also supposed to tell you as your filter needs to be changed and adjusted. It's got a little warning light.

And so the helmet or the face shield rather, because this is not a full helmet. Comes in this nice little bag and it's just a face shield, but there are two. The difference in this face shield is it blows air from two directions. It blows air from the top and from the bottom. So the tubing helmet connects here, and this is a little tricky. When you open and close, you can't twist this but you have to push it down and then open, and then it will gradually open a little bit bigger. It's got an attachment so that the hose can connect right here. And let me see if I can get this on video that this is the ... If you look straight in here, there is a little vent that you can adjust to turn it off. Like right there, it's turned off or ... There it is, turned off. Or I'll turn it right back on so the airflow comes through. And you can't adjust the airflow from the bottom, it just comes through. So this is the face shield. Take off this plastic.

So if I take off this helmet and I like to wear the surgical cap just as a barrier. And I put this on here. I think the difference between the two and you can hear me talking because this is how you're going to be talking to patients if you're wearing this. This certainly has a bigger diameter here, but they're all both imposing one. Someone called it a ... I looked like a storm trooper with a vacuum cleaner, but there's no top part here and the air just blows through so that this inside, where my fingers are, gets the filtered air and then it just leaks out the sides to create a seal. And then, these are some knobs that can adjust the sides. You can take out this harness, this knob lets that out. And this, I don't know what that does. I'll figure it out and let you know.

So this is a comparison between the two types of PAPRs. I've grown used to the 3M Versaflo. That's the one I've been using. We're going to be experimenting with the Optrel Clearmaxx PAPR. It is lighter so if you have staff that are concerned about the heaviness of it, this one certainly is lighter. This one runs about $1,100. This one right now, if you are able to get them in stock, can be anywhere from $1,800 to $2,500 with the helmet. This is $1,100 total. So these are less expensive. These certainly feel like a 3M product. They feel a little more durable and let's see how they last long-term. But right now, these are out of stock. And I have one supplier in Henderson, Nevada, Stephen Hill. Let me know if you want his information. And he has supplied me and many other doctors all across the country.

I'm currently collaborating with many different partners in the industry that are looking to make these more available to other doctors. And Whirlpool, I've been in touch with them as well. They have a division on building new PAPRs that are in a $300-$400 range. So we'll be giving you more information on that. But for now, the take home message is keep your team safe. Make sure they feel safe. If they feel safe, they'll do their work. If you don't feel safe, we need to make a plan that you feel safe.

Any questions? Give me a call at 813-463-9245. We'll have more videos coming out soon. I am Dr. Rich, Rich Castellano. I'm going to suit up for the day and thank you for watching. I definitely feel safe. So wishing you safety. We're in this together. Have a great day. I'll see you in the next video.